William Russell Birch (9 April 1755 – 7 August 1834) was an English

miniature painter A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...

, enameler, and landscape engraver and designer.

Life

Birch was born in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, the son of Anne, née Russell, and physician Thomas Birch. He spent his early childhood in Warwick and was apprenticed to a jeweler, Thomas Jeffreys, and to Sir

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...

. The enamelist Henry Spicer trained Birch in the art of enamel painting. Birch exhibited enamel portraits at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

from 1781 to 1794. In 1785, he received a medal from the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

. As an engraver he is best known in England for his ''Délices de la Grande Bretagne,'' consisting of thirty-six plates of ancient buildings in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

and elsewhere, published in 1791. WBirchLib1800

After emigrating to Philadelphia in 1794 he made portrait enamels of many people including copies of portraits of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

, by

Gilbert Stuart Gilbert Charles Stuart ( Stewart; December 3, 1755 – July 9, 1828) was an American painter from Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-known work is an unfinished portrait of George Washi ...

. The engraving series he made in 1800 of Philadelphia vistas was so extremely popular it resulted in three additional editions. William Birch was the father of

Thomas Birch Thomas Birch (23 November 17059 January 1766) was an English historian. Life He was the son of Joseph Birch, a coffee-mill maker, and was born at Clerkenwell. He preferred study to business but, as his parents were Quakers, he did not go to t ...

, an American portrait and marine painter. Typescript copies of his autobiography are held by the

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a long-established research facility, based in Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chronicles, maps, press reports and v ...

. He died in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, aged 79.

Works

*'' The City of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania North America.'' Philadelphia, 1800 *''The Country Seats of the United States'', 1808 *Enamel according to Gilbert Stuart of George Washington, at the Lazaro Galdiano Museum, Madrid.

Notes

References

* Emily T. Cooperman & Lea Carson Sherk, ''William Birch: Picturing the American Scene'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010

The first biography of William Birch, it contains an edited version of his autobiography.

External links

William Russell Birch subscription lists, 1798-1802
(Smithsonian: Archives of American Art)

(ushistory.org)
Search results for 'William Russell Birch'
(The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

(University of Pennsylvania Press)
American paintings & historical prints from the Middendorf collection
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Birch (no. 11 & 70) {{DEFAULTSORT:Birch, William Russell 1755 births 1834 deaths 19th-century American painters American male painters 18th-century English painters English male painters 19th-century English painters English engravers People from Warwick Portrait miniaturists English emigrants to the United States 19th-century American male artists 19th-century English male artists 18th-century English male artists